Something New
by 0oxymoronic0
Summary: Jack knew this feeling. It was the start of something new. "Who are you still coming back for, Jack?" Janto. Oneshot.


**A/N**

**This Is How I Disappear by My Chemical Romance is basically how I view Ianto's emotions in series 2. Jack mistreats Ianto so much in series 2 it almost pains me to write Janto, and I nearly gave up on Torchwood after Gwen's wedding and the constant flirting. **

**Something New**

_The year that never happened_

The Master ran a cool finger along his shoulderblades one last time. "Who are you still alive for, Jack?" he murmured, caressing him softly. "I've destroyed the Doctor," he said idly, digging his nails in slightly as he trailed across his burning neck. "Isolated Martha…" he continued, digging his fingers into the wound, watching the blood trickle down the body as slowly as he massaged Jack's shoulder with his other hand. "… and destroyed your team." With a spluttering, choking gasp Jack ricoched back into life. "So who are you still coming back for?"

"No-one," Jack spluttered, gasping terribly. The Master extricated his fingers with a soft _plop _and a spray of blood. Jack winced as his skin knitted back together, his eyes fluttering closed when he lost control. "I'm alone," he said hoarsely.

"Now, Jack…" the Master crooned, smiling. "You know that's simply going to intrigue me more!"

"I can't help it," Jack snarled, struggling to rise back onto his feet, chains biting into his wrists, the slices immediately healing over. "If you'd seen the blackness, you'd come back too."

His hand grazed his cheek in an angry slap, and Jack felt the bitter blood flow into his mouth from where he had bitten his tongue. His head was wrenched up and forced to meet the Master's, whose eyes were glittering dangerously. "Of course I know the blackness," he snarled, flinging loose his head and turning back to the door, pausing in the door. "You know it's only a matter of time. I _will _find them." He turned back with a smile. "Of course, my Toclafane might have already done that," he grinned and winked as he turned around and walked away.

Jack let his head drop, chest shuddering with the tears of exasperation sliding across his face. Of course he knew. It was what he feared the most.

---

They were hiding in the mountains; the last Toclafane-free place on Earth. It was much too damp and cold up here, and with the total lack of wildlife there was nothing to hunt. Which, naturally, lead to many cold nights stranded in mountain caves with dry-packed food and Gwen's constant bitching. To be fair, she could have lost a fiancé somewhere in the mix, but Ianto was unsympathetic.

Anything was better than a loss with uncertainty. Anything was better than not even knowing whether they were alive or dead.

Ianto didn't even know if Jack was coming back.

It was not like he had much use up here. He couldn't research the aliens, ensure that the team's cuts and bruises were free of infection, and he could hardly make the coffee. Everyone had a purpose but him – even Gwen kept the team rallied around. He floated in the background and ate their food. Still, he hadn't been much more than a shell since Jack left.

He shivered slightly and tugged his clothes around him tighter, peering into the darkness. He'd offered to stay up on watch; his dreams were filled with screams and destruction as they always were, and without his coffee there was no escape. The cold kept him awake almost as effectively, and at least he was of some use out here. They could talk about him behind his back actually _behind his back _now. The cool wind kissed his face and his hair fluttered; he raised his face, eyes closed, and that was when he heard the _shikkk_.

It had come from the direction of the cave. Blind fear and adrenaline took over his system, and he fell over on the dirt more than once on the way over. He scrambled through desperately, and when he came to the crawl-hole a metre-wide circle had been jaggedly removed from the rock. His heart froze. What to do now? If they had found them, he had nowhere to run. If he did run, it would give them a chase, a game, and his death would be more torturous. He walked down the path, backing away gently until he was at the curve in the road. One on way beckoned the darkness, and in front of him was the gaping mouth of the cave. Which way to go? Run and hide, or see if anyone could still be saved? There was no point going back, he decided almost absently. _It's not like I could be of any help_. But he couldn't just abandon them…

The Toclafane took his choice away when they descended with a metal chuckle and a snarl.

---

The Master waltzed in with a turn in his step and a smooth glide before resting to a halt in front of Jack. "Guess what?" he grinned happily, hands stuffed in his pocked. He reeled away in a fluent motion that reminded him uncannily of the Doctor (the second one, in any rate, who he referred to (if he needed to) as RANG (rude and not ginger) after an entry he'd found by Rose on the TARDIS' database) and swirled his arms around, spinning round to look at him gleefully. "Your team isn't as dead as you thought they were! Well, they weren't, but they are now." The Master grinned. "Well?"

"Oh whoop-de-doo, well done you," Jack spat. "What do you want me to do? Throw a party?"

The Master sighed sadly. "You humans and your morals. Letting them stand in the way of scientific progress… it's pathetic, really." The man had a way of talking that was almost as obscure as the Doctor's. "Little history lesson," the Master said, pacing closer. "Stem cell research." Jack continued to look black, but not for any evasive reason; he honestly had no idea what on earth the Master was on about. "Engage video," he spoke clearly to the surrounding, and the television flickered into life. "Room one-oh-one," he enunciated, "requesting recording three-sixteen." After a moment the screen focused again, the Master's tinny voice muttering 'rejoice!' across the speakers. "Pause," he told the blank screen, and it did so unquestioningly.

"Room 101?" Jack spat cynically. "You called my room _Room 101_?!"

"I rather like it," the Master said with a grin. "Very appropriate."

Jack grinned momentarily. "So what have you got for my worst nightmare?"

"Play," he told the screen, and the screen played. "Now this young man was hanging around the Himalayas." Jack's heartbeat rocketed at Ianto's face, which was blank and staring towards the floor. "I hadn't thought to check around there because quite frankly I didn't think your team stupid enough to hang around, but it seems they are more remarkable than I first believed." He scratched his nose absently.

"So what does stem cell research have to do with any of this?" he said hoarsely.

"Seeing as I've killed the other members of your team and you didn't appear to flinch, I thought I'd experiment with this one for something I'd planned for you." He pulled on a black glove; behind him, Ianto was curled in the corner of the screen, one hand cradling his head. Jack glanced at the time; this had been recorded less than an hour ago. There was still a chance he was alive…

A hoarse yell broke the silence, but it was tinny, artificial. Ianto was screaming, and Jack felt himself buck against the chains. "What are you doing to him?" he snarled.

"You do like to lead me back to topic, don't you? Stem cell research. I, obviously, have a little bit more of an advanced mind than you lot, but this seemed the perfect chance to usurp one of your ideas against you. I took the time to manufacture this," he said, waving at the screen. The camera zoomed up on Ianto's head, magnifying next to his brain.

"What's that?" Jack said hoarsely, all cynicism gone.

"A little jobbie of my own creation. Artificial tumour. I grew it from his own cells and surgically implanted it into his skull. Of course at the moment all he knows are headaches, but we both know how tumours work." His eyes glittered dangerously. "I can't wait to see how your body will respond to it."

"He won't die of a brain tumour," Jack snarled angrily.

"You'd think not," the Master said mildly, "but it was me who created it, and I'm brilliant." His flashing smile echoed the Doctor's and Jack had to stop himself from shuddering. "This one is made of… well, slightly voracious cells. They consume the host."

"You're eating him from the inside out," he whispered.

"He should be dead within a couple of days," he said gleefully, clapping his hands together. A great number of curses and screams clogged Jack's throat for thirty heartwrenching seconds, before he took in a deep, shuddering breath and looked at the Master again. "Not going to ask why? You're no fun. Well, at least you talk to me," he said sulkily, pouting. "All I get from You-Know-Who is silence and sad eyes." He paused for an infinitesimal moment, and Jack's heart froze… weakness? But it had gone as soon as it came. He span on his heel and walked out, whistling cheerily, sliding out of the door and twirling with a wink as he waltzed down the corridor.

Jack sagged forwards and couldn't even hold himself as he cried.

---

Ianto looked up through blurred vision at Harold Saxon, who paused in the doorway. He looked at him ponderously, walking forwards and ruffling his hair. He thought desperately about pushing him away, but his limbs refused to obey. "I'd ask you to suck me off if I wasn't afraid that you'd bite," he said mildly, and Ianto's body rippled with disgust. "Oh, grow up," he muttered, pulling out a cylindrical object from his pocket and crouching down beside him, peering into his eyes. He appeared to be dissatisfied by the tut he made deep in his throat, tilting Ianto's face gently. "Not working fast enough," he muttered, but Ianto had to squint to focus on the noise.

"Get off," he whimpered, but the Master simply laughed.

"Oh, please don't struggle, you'll only make me like you." He slapped him once and his vision danced with stars. "There's really no point," he said firmly, fiddling with the thing he had in his hand. "I've already decided you have to die," he said and pressed a button.

Pain and then darkness.

---

The Master's voice resonated tinnily across the speakers. "I brought you someone to play with," he said in a sing-song voice and the door opened. Jack lifted his head wearily, vision slipping back into focus.

Ianto stumbled in, flattening himself against the wall, cowering in the corner. His head was casting about, hands flailing behind him. He whispered his name hoarsely and Ianto's head flashed towards him. "Jack, is that you?" he called.

Jack's heart filled with elation. "Yeah, it's me, I'm over here." Ianto's face was angled oddly towards him, the emphasis on the ears and not the eyes…

It punched the air out of him in a single, terrible rush. Ianto was blind.

His stumbling movements no longer seemed odd, only heart-wrenching. "Keep talking," he called, hands moving in circles in front of him.

"God, Ianto, I can't believe what he's done to you," he croaked. "And it's all my fault, mine and… no, this was my fault. We'd never have ended up there if I hadn't jumped on the TARDIS. But I had to see him so badly, you know? He left without an explanation… I know I don't need to tell you of all people that, but Ianto, I'm sorry –"

"That should do nicely," Ianto said calmly as he finally made his way over, guided by Jack's running commentary. He clutched at his half-tattered shirt a tad desperately, and frowned at the cold metal chains. "He's got you chained up?"

"You've seen him, then?" he murmured.

"It's Harold Saxon," he said mildly. "Of course I know."

Jack's face broke into a sad smile. "Of course you know."

Ianto's face nuzzled against his neck once more, sighing sadly. His hand rested on his chest. "When did we get to this, Jack?" he said in his careful voice.

Jack laughed sadly, his voice choking. "It's a long story. But I have this friend, and he – "

"I'm dead in a couple of days, Jack. Can he save us before that?"

Jack's eyes fluttered closed, tears slipping down. "He told you," he said hoarsely.

"Yeah." It was all he needed to say. "Do you have… anything?" Jack's eyes widened, looking at him desperately. "I don't want to die alone, Jack," he said softly, running a hand along his cheek.

Jack nodded. "I think I see now why he put them there. The hatch, over there…" Ianto fumbled along, finding the handle and flipping it open. "They… it's just like going to sleep. He feeds them to me when he's bored."

"I stayed for you," Ianto said quietly as he palmed one of the white pills. "You didn't come back."

"I wanted to," he said hoarsely. "But I was… busy."

"That's fucking pathetic, Jack," he said hoarsely.

Jack hung his head. "I know."

"Just don't tell me you're sorry. If you were you wouldn't have done it in the first place." His voice was cool and his blank eyes were on Jack. He walked over and kissed him angrily, and the warmth bubbled in an explosion in his gut. But the familiar bitterness ate at the corners of the throat… somewhere Ianto had taken it. He fell to the floor in front of him with a sigh. Jack's head fell forwards with a sigh and he knew then he hated the Master.

.o0o.

_The year that happened but sometimes Jack wished it hadn't_

Ianto was carefully perched on the desk, eyes on the floor. "I missed you," Jack said with a smile.

"Hn," Ianto said.

"How've you been?" he asked quietly.

"Alright."

"What have you been up to?"

"Torchwood. It's pretty much 24/7."

"How's – "

"You left us and I was nothing to you. I accepted that and moved on. But here you are, and one little word and now I'm here too." Ianto's face was still on his feet, his body still slumped, uncaring.

"You're not nothing to me, Ianto," he said softly. "You're not."

Ianto laughed and looked aside. "You could try not treating me like shit, then."

"I'm sorry," Jack croaked hoarsely.

"If you were you wouldn't have done it in the first place." Blank eyes. Cold stare. The likeness made him shudder and twitch his fingers. He wanted to hold him… but Ianto was hurting. "If that's all, sir, I'm expected home."

"I thought you lived alone," Jack said, his throat choked in a vague attempt to be conversational.

"I live with my boyfriend," Ianto said with cool eyes.

"You have a boyfriend? You didn't tell me!" Jack's heart rocketed.

Ianto turned away. "You didn't ask." He walked over to the door, pressing his palm against the reader and it slid open.

"Ianto…" he whispered softly. The other turned around and looked at him with cold eyes. "Stay."

"Yes, sir," he said and obediently sat in the chair directly beside Jack, looking at him expectantly. They sat in silence for a while, before Ianto broke it.

"What happened with the Prime Minister, sir? I knew about Harold Saxon. I was about to give my report about him when the President was shot. Then everything went – I don't know, funny in my head – "

"That was the time-shift," Jack said quietly, reminding Ianto of the story he'd told him earlier that Ianto had hardly believed. He still appeared to look sceptical.

"And the President's been shot but everything's… alright again." He paused for a moment. "Tosh hacked into the security system. That man who died… I couldn't see his face. Was he your doctor?"

Jack smiled sadly. "No. That was the Master." Ianto frowned, processing the word, but he looked away, turning back to the door. "Will… will you go out with me?" Jack blurted, feeling his skin flushing.

"I'm expected home, sir," he said softly and walked out.

Jack stood up. "Please," he pleaded, eyes focused on him.

Ianto paused in the doorway, eyes by his feet. "I'll think about it," he said quietly. Jack grinned and watched him leave. "I think you should come help Gwen now," he said softly, and Jack nodded.

"I'll be through in a minute," he called, but Ianto had already gone. Jack closed his eyes and let his head fall back, taking in a deep, shuddering breath, mouth set in a small smile.

He knew this feeling. It was the feeling of something new.


End file.
